


Steps

by GigglingGrave



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Multi, Unrequited Arthur/Lewis, Unrequited Arthur/Vivi, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7406494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GigglingGrave/pseuds/GigglingGrave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vivi can't remember him, Arthur can't forget him, and Lewis just wants revenge. With the crew in shambles how can they ever put the pieces back together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Edited by the lovely LowBrassPower.

He could hear her breathing.

She wasn’t asleep. He would never call her on it because it’s not like he was either. In the darkness of the back of their van, Mystery snorted and rolled over. His warm dog breath wafted over Arthur’s bare feet. One part of him was thankful for the doggy barrier between them. Another part of him, a part he refused to acknowledge, was saddened.

Arthur sighed through his nose and smashed his face further into his pillow. He needed to turn off his brain. He needed to stop worrying. He needed to sleep. He needed to-

A shiver ran down his spine. He needed to forget, but he didn’t think his dreams would let him. He would dream of that moment, again and again, when he lost- when he ki- when it happened. Now, with what had happened in that mansion, he had even more fuel to churn the guilt in his stomach and give him nightmares. That damn house was-

Arthur opened his eyes to ward away the images. This wasn’t working.

He heard Vivi sigh. “We need to go back.”

Arthur rolled over to look at the roof of the van so she would know he wasn’t ignoring her. His hands interlocked over his stomach as he thought. There were so many things he could say. _He’ll kill me. Do you want me to die? The mansion is gone now. We lost our chance. He’s a ghost. You can’t reconcile with them. You don’t even remember him!_

What he said was, “I know.”

They spent the rest of the night in strangled silence.

 

 

 

This time when they drove up, it was an empty plot of land. The mansion wasn’t there anymore, but they all knew they were in the right place. Even without getting out of the vehicle, they could feel a beating that thrummed under their skin, which they couldn’t shake. It was a steady thudding, soothing and unnerving all at once.

The sensation only seemed to invigorate Vivi, who jumped out quickly and marched straight ahead. Arthur and Mystery shuffled hesitantly after her.  The thumping kept them glancing over their shoulders.  There was dead grass, rocks, a few rotting wooden planks, but nothing that was inherently spooky or looked like a lead. The only thing odd at all was the strange presence of a shipping truck for chicken. It was chilled on the inside and full of its packaged food but there was no driver. The fact that there was nothing out of the ordinary about it made it seem all the more eerie.

They investigated thoroughly before leaving it be. It was a dead end. They spread out over the barren land where the mansion once stood.   

“Where was it you first found… him, um, what was his name again?” Vivi called out to Arthur from a collection of mushrooms.

“Lewis,” he murmured just loud enough for her to hear. He scratched at his left shoulder.

There was a rumble. It was in time with the thumping, the beating. Mystery pressed himself against Arthur’s leg. Of course this wasn’t going to be easy, and Lewis would go for the dramatics. Arthur sighed through his nose. That fact didn’t make it any less terrifying.

“Right. Where did you find Lewis?” She asked, moving on to a completely innocent looking pile of rocks. There was a rumbling again. Vivi was going to get to the bottom of this regardless of creepy rumbling. Awesome.

“I- I think I was in a basement or… cavern?” Arthur shuffled over to her and kicked a rock. Mystery stayed close and licked Arthur’s metal hand. “I don’t really know. There isn’t a basement anymore and I was a bit busy running for my life, Vivi.” He tried to make the last part a joke. It fell flat.

“This time will be different.”  Vivi said without hesitation. She stopped examining her surroundings and turned to look at him. “I can’t promise you anything but it has to be different. It has to be. We wouldn’t be here if we thought there wasn’t any hope.” Vivi put her hands on Arthur’s shoulders. She held his gaze. “We’re getting to the bottom of this. L-l-l…” Vivi scrunched her eyebrows together, and looked to Arthur for help.

The beating continued.

“Lewis.”

This happened too often for him to not know what she was trying to say.

The rumbling started up again.

“Yes, Lewis is going to know the truth. Lewis will get peace. You will get to apologize. I- um, I might get my memories back. We can’t waste this opportunity.” She squeezed his shoulders.

“I know, Vivi. I’m here. I know. But I don’t think an ‘I’m sorry’ is going to fix anything,” Arthur exhaled.

“Maybe not but we have to try. This can’t keep haunting us.” She was right. He knew. Completely right. He just… feared the consequences. It’s not like he could say _Hey Lewis, long time no see. Your death? Naaaawww, wasn’t me! It was just my left arm while I was possessed. You didn’t know I was? Well, don’t worry. The arms been fixed and by fixed I mean ripped off by our dog who isn’t really a dog. Great, right?_

Yeah, that would go over real well.

“What’s that?” Vivi asked, looking behind him. She started to pull her hands away from his shoulder but froze, as if she forgot to put them down in her surprise.

Arthur turned and saw- oh, there was the casket. It was the same one. On it was the purple lining, the skull, and the thorns. That- um, yeah, there it was jumping slightly to the beat. Not creepy. Completely not scary. Nope. It hadn't been there a moment ago but thinking about it only made it worse, so Arthur decided to put a stop to that current train of thought.

Vivi took a step forward. Instantly the rumble became a roar. The grass disappeared and cold slabs of stone started growing beneath their feet. Lamps lit with flames on either side of them. They were purple flames. Super.  Before they could run walls shot up and a roof folded itself over their heads. Extra super. Being trapped was exactly what he had hoped for.

Sadly, that last statement wasn’t sarcastic.

It was only after the room fully materialized that he realized Vivi had grabbed his hand in the commotion. Mystery was on full alert.

It was time. Arthur wouldn’t run. He really, really wanted to but he wouldn’t. He took a deep breath. Next to him, Vivi did the same. They took a few steps forward together.

Before they could reach it, the coffin sprang open. Despite his earlier dramatics Lewis wasted no time on it now. His eye sockets faced them, flicked to look at their hands, and Lewis was no longer in the casket. Arthur’s hand was ripped from Vivi’s as he was flung backwards. Lewis’s skull was a breath away from his own face. His skeletal hands gripped Arthur’s throat and tightened.

Another shock racked Arthur as his back slammed against the stone wall behind him. Lewis strangled all breath out of him. Arthur struggled uselessly, trying to claw at Lewis’s hands, trying to get them away. He kicked and his foot went through the ghost’s abdomen. He opened his mouth. No sound came out.

“L-L- Stop!” Vivi smashed ineffectively into Lewis. She pushed and pulled. Lewis didn’t even seem to realize she was there. Mystery growled, ready to attack.

Vivi swung under the Ghost’s arm and got between the two. Arthur was frantic now, his movements had no rhyme or reason, only panic. She knew what she was doing. She put her hand on the heart locket over Lewis’s lapel. Her eyes glowed bright purple, so bright they cast the whole room in a new light. She saw and she knew.

“Lewis stop!” The command was followed by complete silence and then Arthur’s body hit the floor. He gagged and shook violently.

“Vivi…” the skeleton seemed to see her for the first time. “Vivi? What…?”

The ghost Lewis had become wavered like a stone had been cast into the waters of his skin. Vivi let go of him. “Why are you… here? You left…”

“I came back.” Vivi unconsciously held her palms open and out at her sides. The light from her eyes dimmed and went out as they darted to Arthur to check his condition. Mystery was with him. He was grimacing but was thankfully conscious. A good sign. Her eyes went back to the skull of her dead boyfriend.

Lewis had followed her gaze. “He killed me.” Arthur and Vivi could hear the despair that heavily draped across those words. “Why, Vivi?”

Vivi frowned. She struggled to find an answer. Mystery moved to her side.

“He killed me!” Fire lit anew all over Lewis but he didn’t move. The house heaved around them like it was crying. “Why are you defending him? Vivi, why?”

 “WHY?!” The voice echoed and was wracked with confusion and pain. He moved, frantic. His existence flickered in and out.

“No, Lewis! Let me explain!” She pleaded and tried to hold onto him but it was no use. Her hands moved through him like they would through a fog. Mystery growled low in his throat again.

“There’s nothing to explain! You wanted me dead too! How-!”

Mystery wasn’t willing to negotiate like Vivi. Suddenly, their dog was no longer a dog. A kitsune stood in his place and hissed. Three of his six tails snaked forward. One struck Arthur’s forehead.

Arthur gasped and croaked out, “No…nonono.” His eye’s widened, unseeing.

One hit Vivi in the same place and her eyes grew unfocused. “What is-?”

The last one wrapped around Lewis’s skull and smacked his forehead. Lewis didn’t have time to react.

The kitsune hummed.

 

 

 

Arthur woke up in a nightmare. It was like every night in his dreams. There he stood, feeling miserable in that damn cave. He knew part of it was because he felt like a third wheel. The other parts? He was scared. He was scared of a lot of things. He didn’t know if he wanted to keep doing this anymore. Hunting ghosts for what? What was the benefit of staying in this lifestyle? More heart attacks than a man twice his age? And his feelings for… the others, were uncomfortable at best. Could he really keep pretending he didn’t feel like this? The other two didn’t even seem to notice him anymore anyway so it wouldn’t be too bad, right? But what would he do alone? Where would he go from there? Back to the shop with his uncle?

Arthur didn’t know and his inner turmoil grew. The control he had over his life was slipping from his grasp like a wet bar of soap. Did they even want him barging in on their… time together?

No matter how hard he tried, the mix of negative feelings weighed him down, a swirling ball of decay in his chest.

There was Lewis in front of him, exploring the cliff without a care. Who knew where Mystery and Vivi were right now?

Arthur felt a surge of something other, something foreign, and he grew more uncomfortable. He had to get rid of this weight in his chest. He had to. If he didn’t- he couldn’t think about it. He literally couldn’t. He tried but all he felt was a hazy pain at the effort. How could he get rid of this feeling?

His vision blurred as he thought and then focused again on Lewis’s back. The man continued to explore ahead of him. He thought of Vivi too, in a flash. She must be somewhere else in the cave doing the same thing. It was their fault he felt this way. They didn’t care about him. They didn’t even like him. Here he was having an emotional crisis and Lewis was still busy looking off of a fucking cliff. A cliff was more interesting to Lewis than Arthur’s emotional breakdown. True friendship right there. Arthur should just get rid of them and he wouldn’t feel this way anymore. He would be free. Free from everything. Alive. 

His own voice echoed in his head.

There was a dual sensation he ignored.

Well if Lewis loved that cliff so much he should just push him off it. He’d get a great view that way.

Half of Arthur stuttered to a halt. Wait- what-no. That was wrong.

The other half thought differently. With Lewis dead he could finally quit pretending he was happy with how things were. Vivi would be next and he would be free of them.

But they were his friends.

Some friends they were.

Arthur gasped for breath and realized one of his hands, his left, was an acid green, and it was spreading. His right hand was holding it back, straining. What was going on?

Fear crept into him. Something was wrong. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong. He couldn’t feel his left side and his fear-

His fear made the evil thoughts stronger.

_It wouldn’t be hard to finally get what you want. **DO IT.**_

His left hand escaped from his right and-

Lewis was falling, screaming. A deafening crash boomed through the cave. Lewis stopped screaming.

Arthur started crying. The tears fell like a dam breaking. _No, nononononononono, no. Please, no. Not Lewis, no._ This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t. But as he cried another part of his mind was cackling. In his mind it gleefully rewatched that moment of utter betrayal on Lewis’s face as he turned in his fall. It hissed with pleasure at the fresh memory of Lewis’s back against his pushing hand and then nothing, air.

Arthur could hear Vivi screaming now. He should be screaming but his mouth wouldn’t work. Nothing worked. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. A sharp pain lanced through him. Agonizing rods of fire rammed into him. Red spread over his vision. What? What was-? Was that Mystery? Had Mystery killed him? He distantly realized he had joined Vivi's screams. He didn’t understand how he had found the ability to speak, but he didn’t have much time think about it before everything went dark.

This was how his nightmares went every night. Why couldn’t he have not been possessed? Or figured it out sooner? Why couldn’t he have fought off the possession? Why did he have to have such negative emotions in the first place that the spirit could have fed off of enough to control him? Over what? His stupid crushes and feelings of being left out? Why had he killed one of his best friends? Why couldn’t he have stopped it from happening? Why did this happen? Why? WHY?!

 

 

 

Arthur woke up, tried to suck in a breath, and failed. It was dark. Was he possessed again? No. The memories came rushing back. No, Lewis was strangling him! Shit!

Arthur’s hands when to his throat but felt nothing. His best friend’s ghost must be intangible. There was no hope. He shouldn’t have come back to the stupid mansion. He shouldn’t-

“Oh no, he’s having another one.”

Vivi?

“Arthur, Arthur, you’re fine.” Hands were on him. He was too hot, so hot. He was sweating. He couldn’t breathe. “Open your eyes. Please, Arthur.” It _was_ Vivi. How was she-? His brain struggled to understand.

“Open your eyes.” It was a command. How Vivi could put that much authority into her voice he would never know.

His eyes peeled open and Arthur felt the sharp pain of light. He blinked. “I- I can’t br...” He tried to wheeze out.

“I know… I know…” came the soothing voice of the blue blob above him. “Take a deep breath.” What did she think he was trying to do? Vivi made a small shushing sound. Arthur realized she was holding his right hand. The fact it had taken him so long to realize that was just embarrassing. He could actually feel through that one.

He tried to do as she told but failed miserably. Her instructions were easier said than done. As Vivi came into focus in his watery vison Arthur noticed she was shivering. No- he was shivering… and sweating. He was sucking in air like a faulty and clogged vacuum, start and stop, start and stop. Vivi squeezed his fingers and then rolled circles into the back of his hand with her thumb.

“You’re fine. Everything is fine. I’m lying through my teeth but you’re going to believe me because that’s what friends do,” Vivi said.

It felt like he had run a mile. He tried calming himself. He forced himself to focus on Vivi and what she was saying. He could do this. He would come down- calm down. Arthur couldn’t yet breathe through his nose but it was a start. He heaved heavy breaths in and out through his mouth.

Then he noticed a new problem. His heart was hammering. It wouldn’t slow down. He hadn’t noticed when he couldn’t breathe at all, but now that he was becoming more aware, he knew. It wasn’t slowing down. A stray thought wondered if his heart would never slow down, but Arthur squashed it.  He shivered.

Time went by, moments stretched on, and in it Arthur clung to Vivi like she was an answer. It took a lifetime but finally Arthur’s heart was beating at a normal rate and he could breathe without feeling like he was suffocating.

“Vivi… what happened?” Arthur whispered out, as if afraid of his own voice. Vivi pulled on his hands to help him sit up. It took some effort.

“Mystery happened.” That really didn’t explain anything but it explained everything. Mystery was, well, a mystery. It was why he was named that. He was a… kitsune, they thought. Though going by his number of tails he wasn’t a fully powerful one yet.

“Mystery did what?” Speak of the devil the little guy came up a plopped himself down near them, once again in dog form. He gave a big dog yawn and put his head on his paws.

Vivi paused. Arthur looked at her and frowned. He waited.

“We were- we saw you in the cave or- we _were_ you in the cave when you were… possessed.” Vivi didn’t look at him.

“What?” His stomach dropped out of his abdomen and landed somewhere in the earth’s mantle.

“We were you and we heard your thoughts and emotions…” Vivi trailed off. “You had told me you’d been possessed but I hadn’t imagined it would be so…” She didn’t know what to say.

“Oh shit.” Arthur covered his face with his hands. He breathed in slowly to avoid going into another panic attack. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need Vivi hearing all of his personal thoughts. She didn’t need to know what it was like, his helplessness. No one needed to see that or know that. What had Mystery been thinking? Arthur gritted his teeth, but slid his hands away from his face.

“We?” He asked.

“Lewis saw it too.”

Arthur stared.

“He… made that obvious by how he reacted once he woke up after me.” Vivi looked away at an empty spot on the floor.

Arthur shuddered. “Not the whole thing,” He hoped aloud.

“The whole thing,” Vivi confirmed.

“I’m sorry.” Arthur felt like a failure again. He started to stand up.

Vivi looked at him in surprise but before she could speak everything lurched to one side. Arthur, in a stroke of his normal luck, face planted into the wooden floor from his awkward position of attempting to stand. Vivi put her hands on the ground beside her to stabilize herself. Mystery opened his eyes from his nap but didn’t move beyond that.

Vivi snorted. Like that, the mood was broken.

“Noh funneh,” Arthur said in a muffled grumble into the floor.

Vivi gave a shrug he couldn’t see and then asked, “What now? The house is rumbling and we don’t know where Lewis is.”

Arthur peeled his face off the floor and then checked his face with one hand, “I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I want to go home.”

“No you don’t,” Vivi called his bluff.

“No, I don’t,” Arthur agreed. The house was still lurching from side to side.

Vivi got up and walked like a drunken sailor towards a window. It was then that Arthur realized they were no longer in the basement they had fainted in. This was a completely different room. It looked like some kind of small family room. There were dusty couches, a rug to the side, thick curtains over the windows, a round ornate wooden table, and knick-knacks of various sizes placed about the room. Oddly, nothing seemed to be reacting to the turbulence that bounced the room about. How did they get here?

“Vivi, are we- where are we?”

“Second floor. Woke up here. I dunno how. Sorry,” Vivi said in a distracted way. It seemed most of her concentration was focused on staying upright. Arthur would have joined her but he had already kissed the floor once. He was content not to do it again.

Vivi reached the window and clung to the frame like exorcists griped crosses in horror movies. “I have good news and bad news. Which first?” She asked.

Arthur groaned, “Only good news. I don’t want bad news.”

Vivi turned back to look at him and flashed her teeth at him in a smile, “Okay, good news is that the view is spectacular. The other good news is that the house is moving and we’re trapped on the second floor.”

“Vivi! I only wanted good news!” Arthur complained.

“It is good news! I said so!” Vivi answered. Then she turned back to look out the window. Arthur got up and stumbled towards her, only to bash his shin again the table on his way over. Vivi snorted again but he was able to make it eventually.

“You have the worst luck,” Vivi commented.

“Correction, I have great luck when I’m not with you. I think you’re my bad luck charm,” Arthur sniffed and held onto the window frame as well.

Vivi smiled warmly. “You say the sweetest things.” Then Vivi’s face turned grim. “I don’t know how to get out of this. Even if we went down to the first floor we’re going too fast and are too far off the ground to jump out.”

Arthur followed her gaze and it was true. Trees flashed by as if they were in a very clunky fast moving car. There was a space below the basement that seemed empty. Indeed, the basement had come with them. It was a gray monstrosity bulging beneath the first floor. Unlike most houses, the basement was wider and much larger than either had expected. Arthur wondered if they were levitating, but that didn’t explain the turbulence. Then he saw a flash of something.

“There, what is that? It’s under the basement part and a bit to the right.” Arthur pointed.

Vivi squinted at it. “It’s moving. Is it- Is… no way.”

“What?”

“He pulled a Howl’s Moving Castle.”

“What?”

“The house has legs.” Vivi leaned over the lurching window to get a better look. The house was still bouncing around like a seven year old on a trampoline. Vivi put her weight on the frame so she could lean forward and see more. In the uneven beat of the house's stride, her feet started to lift, and lift-

Vivi’s eye’s widened. She realized what was happening but she didn’t even have time to reach out.

Arthur flung his right arm around her, holding on, and his left, metal one kept hold on the room around them. Vivi grabbed onto him with one hand and the wall with the other. Her grip was tight, almost painful.

“Back in the house,” he chuckled harshly as he hauled her in. “I’m all for escape, but that one doesn’t seem the best option.”

He set her down next to him.

Realizing she was back in she unclenched her hand and patted his shoulder in thanks, then grabbed onto his arm again, this time with less pressure.

“Well, mistakes were made. They may have been mine. Who knows?” Vivi cracked a grin.

“Who knows?” Arthur echoed in agreement, catching her chagrin. “Could have been Mystery. We’ll never know.”

“Never,” Vivi concurred.

Mystery huffed from the corner of the room he hadn’t moved from. Apparently, he disagreed.

They both stood there, swaying to and fro to keep their balance in the house, without talking. Trees rolled past the window. Birds shrieked and got out of the way as the house barreled by. In these turbulent but uncertain moments, each tried to figure out a plan. They couldn’t get out. They didn’t know where Lewis was but neither was up to the search just yet. How could they-

The house erupted with sound.

The loud crash and crumple made Vivi and Arthur both fall over. They went down with slammed shins and elbows in each other’s stomachs. Arthur’s shoulder landed on top of Vivi’s face. Vivi’s knee rammed into his hip.

“Shit!”

“Fuuck…”

Both devolved from cursing into unintelligible groans. The two of them rolled away from each other and laid prone with their backs on the ground.

Vivi started to ask, “What did we hi-”

The house quaked again as it came to a sudden, violent halt. Arthur felt himself slide across the floor and back. They were ramming something. They had to be. Vivi and Arthur remained on the floor but tried to find purchase so they wouldn’t slide into anything. Again, the room seemed strangely unaffected by the movement around them. Not even a curtain waved out of place.

“I thought Lewis was a good driver!” Vivi wailed.

“You thought wrong!” Arthur squeaked.

Another ramming shudder rippled through the house. Vivi opened her mouth to say something, but then came a worse sound. A high screeching pierced the air like lightning. Vivi and Arthur clapped their hands over their ears. Mystery’s ears flattened against his head. The ramming stopped.

Vivi took one hand off an ear and hit Arthur to get his attention, “Hey!”

“What?”

“Don’t look at the floor!”

“Why-” Arthur started as he looked at the floor then stopped. He could see the room below them through the brown haze of the wooden floor. Oh, great, the floor was fading. A squeak may have escaped him. He would never tell, and no one would ever know considering the scream that continued to rip through the air.

“I told you not to look at the floor, and what do you do? You look at the floor! It’s like you _want_ your life to end horribly.” Vivi shouted over the wailing. Neither of them thought about the location of the sound that blasted their ears, or from whom it emanated. Vivi got up and kept her hands on her ears so there was no use in arguing back. She rushed to the swinging door and wedged it open with her foot.

Arthur followed in a similar manner. It was a lot easier to move around now that the bumpy movement and ramming had stopped. The unholy shrieking, because really that noise could not come from anything good, was still a bit of a downer though.

Mystery took up the rear behind them.

As quickly as they could, they found stairs going down. On their way they saw entire patches of the walls, floors, and ceiling disappear for moments only to reappear soon after. Other areas simply stayed faded but not gone… and the rest? Well, there were definitely permanent holes that were not there before.

This only made them move faster.

Soon, there was more gaps than not. The house was ceasing to exist and they couldn’t find the basement door. They looked around, but nothing presented itself. They could try jumping off the edge, as most of the walls were gone now, but it was a long way down. There had to be a safer way. Even Mystery seemed stumped as he ran around sniffing and huffing.

Vivi ran up to a painting, one they had seen before. Arthur didn’t even bother to ask. If Vivi had an idea they should go for it. The painting itself looked like that of a woman with purple curling hair and a beautiful dress.

“I know you can move!” Vivi shouted over the din. “How do we get to the basement?”

They took their hands off of their ears to hear if the painted woman would reply.

She didn’t say a thing. Instead, the painting gave them a quick once-over, tutted, and then pulled a chain that had appeared out of nowhere.

Just like before, they fell.

And just like before, their descent was slowed enough so they didn’t get hurt when they landed.

Unlike before, they didn’t seem to go straight down, but rather at an angle. They remained together. That was a relief. Arthur and Vivi struggled to sit up. Mystery stayed down where he lay, and let out a pathetic dog groan. They looked around but the house was gone.

The scream that had lasted this whole, unnatural time was cut off, then ended in a loud sob. Arthur shivered and crossed his arms. He didn’t need to ask who it belonged to, that voice. He knew. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look and saw Vivi glancing at him. She wasn’t smiling but her grip was firm. He patted her hand and then stood up. As he did, her hand slid away as she remained on the ground.

“Do you want to go in?” asked Vivi.

Arthur frowned. _What?_

“What?” He asked.

Vivi crossed her legs, making no intention to get up, and jerked her head over to the left. Then she sniffed.

Arthur looked down a ways and across the road that was there. He was surprised he didn’t shit himself. It was the cave where this all started. The mouth of the obvious, and Arthur thought deliberately, carved cave skull gaped open like a hungry monster.

_Fuck no._

“Fuck no,” Arthur barely gasped out.

“Good point,” Vivi said from where she was sitting next to him. Arthur thought she had the right idea and sat back down. They stayed there like that for a while, trying to understand everything they had just gone through.

Unfortunately, they weren’t given much time to reassess because while the screaming had stopped and the house had completely faded, Lewis was still around… somewhere. The two friends came upon this thought around the same time.

“If we wait outside will he come out of the mouth or just phase through a wall?” Vivi asked, biting her lip. Getting any closer wasn’t something either of them wanted to do, but they also didn’t want to lose the chance of getting through to Lewis again.

“What if he doesn’t come out at all?” Arthur asked.

Vivi looked at him and didn’t say anything. She didn’t have an answer for him.

Chance did have an answer. It came in the form of those little pink globs of spirits that had hounded them in the mansion the first time. They shot out of the cave like excited dogs and then ran back in, then out, then in, then out, then in. The excited here-and-back the blobs were doing made it too hard for anyone to count them, and Arthur wasn’t going to try. There were a lot, he decided; more than he was comfortable with. Suddenly, a huge mass of them came out of the cave. They were huddled in a circle, moving up and down, swirling around something.

A bony hand struck out of the pile in a sharp jabbing movement. The pink spirits drooped and started to dissipate. A few made a high pitched whining sound as they moved away. There, in the middle and now alone, stood Lewis.

Vivi grabbed Arthur’s elbow and hauled him up with her. Arthur leaned onto her in turn. Mystery sniffed the air and then also rose.

Lewis saw them immediately. He floated across the road and over as they started to make their way towards him.

They met somewhere in the middle.

“The evil presence isn’t there anymore,” was the first thing Lewis said.

 _Then where was it?_ A full body shiver started in Arthur’s spine and then ran its course. Lewis’s skull turned towards him and he clenched a fist. Arthur looked away.

“Arthur…” Lewis unclenched and reclenched his fist. He didn't seem to know where to start. The silence floundered around them like dying fish.

“All of us need to talk,” Vivi said, saving the two men from attempting the conversation on their own.

Arthur nodded and took hold of a sleeve of her sweater. He was nervous. He used to hold on to Lewis’s shoulders when that happened but-

-But that was a different time.

Lewis put his feet on the ground. “We do,” He agreed. His voice had a jagged edge that echoed his current emotions.

“Can we sit?” Arthur asked. He didn’t think he had the energy to have the conversation, let alone to have it standing.

Vivi took that as her cue and dropped down cross-legged, pulling Arthur as she went. He let her manhandle him.

Mystery snuggled up behind him and laid down. Once again, he closed his eyes. Arthur thought he must have been tired. Mystery yawned in agreement with that thought but kept his ears up, alert to their conversation. His head was about at Arthur’s knee and his tail thwaped a few times against Arthur’s butt. Arthur scratched him behind the ears.

Lewis took a moment, as if trying to remember how to do that, then followed suit.  They must have looked odd, three people sitting together in the middle of nowhere. They could almost be a joke. _A cursed girl, ghost, a fox-dog, and half-cyborg walk into a bar…_ Arthur’s mind supplied. He rubbed at his nose to preemptively stop any nervous laughter he might have.

Vivi removed her glasses and rubbed the lenses between a pinch of fabric from her sweater. “I know we all think we have the full story but let’s all start at the beginning.”

“Please-“ Arthur started.

“No, we rip this band aid off and then you never have to look at it again, if you don't want to.” Vivi countered.

Arthur looked down and fiddled with his shoelaces. She had a good point. He sniffed.

“I’ll start,” Lewis offered.

Lewis spoke slowly in a low voice. He explained how when he had been pushed he had turned at the last moment and seen… Arthur. His friend’s face was contorted with glee. He paused for a moment and then admitted that Arthur had also been crying now that he thought about it. Lewis hadn’t had time to understand because the next moment-

Lewis started to fade and flicker.

“When I woke up all I had was my locket and I was so angry. I… was furious. How could my friend have done this to me? Why? I wasn’t supposed to be dead. It wasn’t fair. I had plans, I had a future, and I wanted-” Lewis stopped. He cleared his non-existent throat and plucked at a button on his suit jacket. He solidified. “I thought you murdered me.”

“I did,” Arthur whispered. He looked at his hands.

“You didn’t,” Vivi countered, shoving him gently. “You were possessed and the whatever-it-was killed Lewis.”

Arthur leaned away from her. “I let it in. It used me to do it. I was there. I watched. Don’t tell me I didn’t kill him. You weren’t even there.”

“You’re right, I watched him fall,” Viv’s voice hardened. “From below,” she clarified when Lewis looked in her direction and tilted his skull. “But then there was a purple light everywhere and…” Vivi shook her head. “I don’t remember after that. I don’t remember anything from then until I woke up in the hospital. I guess I’m never getting those memories back,” She huffed ruefully.

“At least you remember Lewis, now,” Arthur said. He still wasn’t looking at anyone. His shoe was just so interesting. Right.

“You didn’t remember me?” Lewis’s voice came out in a hushed tone.

“I couldn’t remember you,” Vivi corrected. “Arthur tried helping me. We went to so many doctors and Arthur even made a huge scrap book of just you and-” Vivi’s voice caught. She then took a deep breath and continued to speak but her voice warbled, “I couldn’t… keep you in my mind. It was like trying to hold water in one hand. It just kept dripping away, bit by bit, no matter how much I scooped it back up.”

Arthur leaned a little more against Vivi. She didn’t like to cry in front of people and was doing her best not to.

“I could remember everything else; what I drew in kindergarten, my favorite book series, my job, family. I just couldn’t remember you and I… I was so frustrated. Arthur kept telling me of this man who’s supposed to be the love of my life and I couldn’t even remember his name. I couldn’t mourn him. I went to your funeral and didn’t know where I was and after I didn’t remember going!”

Lewis slid forward and hugged her. “But you remember me now?” He seemed hesitant.

“Yes,” Vivi said. She had finally started crying.

Arthur picked at the bottom of his shoes; if he looked up, he would have seen smoke coming from the corners of Lewis’s eye sockets. He was crying too.

“Then I’m glad,” was all Lewis could say.

Arthur stopped leaning on Vivi, hunched over further, and started picking at the grass. His chest felt a little lighter at the fact that the two of them still had something good. Vivi remembering… it was more than he had dared hope for. Arthur took the grass he had and sprinkled it over Mystery’s head.

Mystery opened one eye to give a glare, but it had no heat. He closed his eye and continued to quasi-dose.  He let Arthur continue.

Suddenly, a heavy weight hit him; a puff of air was forced from his mouth. Arms in blue sleeves wrapped around him.

“We’re not done, come on,” Vivi pulled him back into the conversation, almost literally.

“I…” Lewis started and then stopped. He flexed his bony fingers and took a deep breath. “Let’s rewind.”

“Arthur, look at us, please,” Vivi squeezed his flesh arm as she sat back and stopped hugging him.

Arthur looked up at them. His eyes still darted around a bit, but it was an improvement.

“I will need time to work through…” Lewis started to say but then he shook his head. “No, I- today has been a lot. Arthur, I don’t blame you.” He kept his distance but looked at Arthur. “Whatever happens, know I don’t blame you. I may need to really rethink things, but the thing that remains is that I don’t blame you.”

“You should,” Arthur said.

“I don’t.”

“I do,” Arthur managed to look him in the eyes.

“Well, I don’t,” Lewis argued.

Arthur looked away again. Then he looked back. There was a lot going on in his head and he didn’t know how to get out exactly what he wanted. He scrunched up his nose for a second in thought and then tried, “I’ll work on it.”

It was all he could say. The idea that he wasn’t to blame was difficult to wrap his mind around, and honestly he should probably see a therapist, if he could find one who believed he'd been half possessed when he shoved his friend off a cliff instead of calling the cops immediately. None of that was what he wanted to say right now. He just wanted Lewis to know he would try.

“I also want to say I’m sorry,” Lewis continued.

Arthur started to frown.

“I hurt you. I- I tried to kill you. How-” Lewis stopped talking again. Arthur wondered what Lewis was going to ask but didn’t push. Maybe he would say it in time but maybe he wouldn’t. Lewis hadn’t asked for details when Arthur said he would work on it, so Arthur returned the favor.

“I will never, ever do that again. I am so sorry Arthur,” Lewis said as he turned away, just a bit.

“I don’t blame you,” Arthur said.

Lewis barked out a laugh that with his ghostly voice sounded more like a crash. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

Arthur couldn’t really smile but he tried for not pouting. He thought he succeeded. “Yeah.”

Vivi let out a breath and asked, “Are we okay?” Then her eyes widened. “I mean, obviously we’re not okay, okay but- are we…” she trailed off. Vivi made small swirling gestures with her hands, trying to find the right words.

“We are not okay, but we are better than we were yesterday,” Lewis supplied.

“Not what I was looking for, but close enough,” Vivi said as she dropped her hands.

“Good enough for me,” said Arthur. Inwardly he was simply grateful none of them had brought up anything specific from when they had both seen the incident through his eyes. He didn’t want to go there. Ever.

“What- um, what should we…” Lewis trailed off. He seemed unsure of where they should go from here.

“Lewis, you brought us here. Go get the van,” Vivi patted his shoulder and stood up. Then she started to dust herself off.

The fact that the others in the group had no form of transport besides walking dawned on him. “Right…” He trailed off.

Arthur got up. “Can we walk together? I just… can we walk together instead?”

The other two looked at him and Vivi smiled.

“Sure,” said Lewis.

Mystery let out a big yawn, stretched, and got up too.

All four of them started the long walk back to the van. It wasn’t perfect, but that was okay. They would get there.

**Author's Note:**

> -The violence tagged refers to strangulation.
> 
> -If you notice any errors please inform me so that I may fix the mistake.
> 
> -If you need anything tagged please contact me and I will add it.


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